A child playing with a cigarette lighter near a Christmas tree may have sparked the deadly Philadelphia fire that killed at least a dozen people — including eight children.
An application for a warrant filed Wednesday cites “information that a child age 5 or under was playing with a lighter and lit the tree on fire,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The Wednesday-morning blaze swept through the Fairmount rowhouses, with the victims believed to include two mothers and their children, the Inquirer said.
The scene of the apartment building fire that killed at least 12 people on Jan. 5, 2022, in Philadelphia. AP Photo/Matt Rourke
Investigators at the building on Jan. 6, 2022. AP Photo/Matt RourkeIn all, eight children and four adults were killed, while two others remain hospitalized.
Sources told the newspaper that the child who allegedly started the blaze ran outside as flames engulfed the three-story building and told first-responders that the tree was on fire.
The medical examiner’s office has not ruled on the causes of death, while the city Philadelphia Fire Marshal’s Office continues to investigate the blaze.
A group of people praying near the building after the deadly Jan. 5 fire. Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images
People mourn the fire victims outside of the building in Philly’s Fairmount area. Joe Lamberti /Camden Courier-Post via APMatthew Varisco, ATF special agent in charge of the Philadelphia field office, told the outlet that investigators “haven’t ruled anything out.”
City firefighters arrived at the scene on North 23rd Street shortly after 6:30 a.m. Wednesday after receiving numerous 911 calls — only to find the second floor of the building engulfed in flames and the third floor filled with heavy smoke.
It took nearly an hour for the fire to be brought under control.
